After years shrouded in mystery, Underground Mountains have finally stepped out into the open. Core members Trevor, Nick, and Shane, joined on this night by Frank Dias on percussion and E.C. Dimock (Acid Damage, Hungry For Vladimir) on second guitar, took the stage for their first-ever performance under the name, answering a call from the Jacob Barber Band, who had traveled from Sarnia to headline alongside Kitchener’s Heir Loom.
Bathed in the shifting, synapse-frying visuals of The Gateway Experience lighting crew, the set was a cosmic trip in full bloom, an unbroken transmission of hazy fuzz clouds, shimmering distortion, wah-drenched wails, low-end pressure, and drums that rolled and swelled like incoming storms. It was droned-out amplifier worship at its most engulfing: sound thick enough to wade through, rising and breaking in ecstatic waves.
Released in June on the indispensable Ontario-based label We, Here, and Now!, Exorcises in the Unknown offers three sprawling pieces you’ll want to sink your teeth into, for sure. The 21-minute-plus title track opens in a haze of psychedelia, riding wah-wah distortion that nods to Hendrix before spiraling into ever more mind-bending terrain.
“Slow Dawn” shifts gears into something quieter, stranger, a deep burrow into the uncharted, where Underground Mountains keep their free-jamming psych edge but let the spaces between notes do the talking.
Finally, “…is the question?” drifts in as the closer with a smoky, sinuous Middle Eastern pulse, a mysterious parting gesture. It’s a fitting way to lead us out into the night, heads spinning, reeking of incense and the finest herb.
Eight years on, the Underground Mountains’ ritual remains unchanged even as the collective adds new members. Every meeting is still an exercise in exploration. Phrases feel their way forward, building into each other until the boundaries dissolve. There are no wrong notes here, only doorways to step through. The edges fray, colors bleed, and the sound turns kaleidoscopic.
Underground Mountains are, as ever, in search of highs, and on this night, they found plenty (both metaphorical and, most likely, literal).
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